+++
date = '2026-05-26T16:00:00-06:00'
draft = false
title = "How a dragon runs his monsters"
tags = ['ttrpg', 'tutorial', 'dnd']
+++

## How to make a punching bag

{{< typeit
tag=h3
speed=50
breakLines=false
>}}
"Can I roll to attack the barrel?" — Random player
{{< /typeit >}}

How does a dragon run **DnD?** Have you ever wondered how to build and come up with creatures on the fly?

I'll outline some of my tips and tricks below on how I run completely random encounters based on the situation and players.

## Coming up with a monster

There are lots of beasties available via the **Monster Manual** and a pleathora of other sources including homebrew and third party monsters. **So why bother?**

**I'm an insane person.**

Anyways, I always like the personal touch of bringing creatures players have not seen before. Meta-gamer's cant take advantage of their *out-of-character* knowledge about monster stats, and players get a unique experience. That still leaves the question, **how do you make a monster?**

### Read the situation

One of the main keys is to **read the situation**, literally. If players are in a tavern, what kind of things could they end up fighting in a tavern? How about in a forest? It doesn't have to be something crazy, nor does it not have to be something crazy. Some monsters I make up I really let go wild.

For example, one such monster was a fungus monster that had one attack, eat. The players were in a forest with a bunch of mushrooms, Ureka!, let's have them fight a fungus.

I also like to take inspiration from media and even existing monsters, watching too much **Gravity Falls**? Add some chaotic demon for the players to fight. Need an interesting city showdown? Why not pull in a sharp shootin outsider wearing all black.

Of course, keep in mind whether you care about **consistency in your world**. Some things make less sense than others. But let your creativity soar.

## Running a homebrew monster

One of the tricks to homebrew monsters is how I run combat. I find combat in **DnD** specifically quite tedious, so doin the least amount of math and rolling works out best for me.

### Gauging difficulty

There are a few ways to quickly gauge a monster's difficulty.

- **The Monster's AC,** *how hard they are to hurt*
- **The Monster's Attacks,** *how hard they hit back*
- **The Monster's HP,** *how long they can fight*
- **The Amount of Monsters,** *how overwhelmed players will feel*

The first thing I usually decide is how hard do I want this fight.

This unfortunately usually takes a little feel for the game. I start by figuring out how I want to direct combat. Some key things to keep in mind for directing combat would be, **Is this a Boss fight? Are the players going to be fighting a large group of enemies or just one?** How you construct your encounter will greatly impact how you have to manage monster difficulty.

For instance, if you want to run a **Boss Battle**, you need to consider some key things: if there are lots of players, you will want to give your monster some **[Legendary Actions](https://arcaneeye.com/mechanic-overview/legendary-actions-5e/)** or give them some **Minions**. You will also need to consider how tough the boss is or how powerful are his attacks?

If instead you want a scuffle in the woods with bandits, consider the amount of bandits and how hard they should be to kill, **which leads me to my next trick...**

### Deciding the AC and the HP

**Armor Class** is essential to certain combats, it makes a difficult monster truly difficult. But I also try to make sure it makes sense, if a **Monster is a big fleshy beast** the size of a barn, it probably **will not have that great of an AC**.

Conversely, **Health Points** are the yin to the yang of **AC**. They truely make the fight either shorter or longer. Every monster stat block will have the **Dice roll** for **HP** such as `2d8+20 (29)` which is helpful in drafting up random health. I personally don't like that approach and instead I usually measure a fight in a **"How many times can this enemy be hit?"** approach.

If it is a weak enemy like an enemy raider, perhaps he will have an **AC of `14`** with his default armor, and perhaps **he can take about 2 hits**.

I usually only track HP for enemies as a show for players, sometimes I actually roll out the **HP**, but it honestly takes gauging the feel. Sometimes it is necessary, like for a boss, other times it is unnecessary, for instance a swarm of bats.

### How much damage should my monster do?

Do NOT go nuts with damage. If your average **player has `30` HP**, your monster's attacks generally should not do **more than `60-80%`** of the average player's health. We generally want to have a fun and engaging fight, not to **[TPK](https://blackcitadelrpg.com/dnd-acronym-list/)** the party.

For instance, I like to scale my damage off of existing weapons, or using a [dice calculator](https://dice.clockworkmod.com).

| Device     | Damage Dice  | Average Damage |
|------------|--------------|----------------|
| Flail      | `1d8 + mod`  | `4.5 + mod`    |
| Glaive     | `1d10 + mod` | `5.5 + mod`    |
| Greataxe   | `1d12 + mod` | `6.5 + mod`    |
| Greatsword | `2d6 + mod`  | `7 + mod`      |

I also use existing monster features a lot, if your monster only does an average of `8` damage a hit, but you need twice that, have your monster get **Multiattack** for instance on the [brown bear statblock](https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/16816-brown-bear).

Back to my previous example with the **Giant Fungus** the attack and method for which players can escape was heavily inspired by the **[purple worm](https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/16987-purple-worm)**, I however nerfed a few requirements, dropping the `30` to `16`, and the damage to `3d6`.

### The tiresome fight

The final thing I try to avoid, is a **tiresome fight**.

What I mean by that is **when combat gets too drawn out, it needs to end**. A thrilling combat should not devolve into **play fighting with foam swords**.

If your enemy is **not doing enough damage**, perhaps he had some **friends lurking nearby**. If the enemy is too hard to fight, perhaps **every hit now counts for two hits or double damage**.

## Why do we do what we do

**We do it for the players.**

While it is fun to dream up horrific monsters that players have to fight and have no chance winning against, we want everyone to have fun. **Your monsters should be a challenge**, but they should not be a death sentence.

We want to tell a story and we want to give the players something memorable that keeps bringing them back.

Of course, this is not the only way to create your own monsters, heck, you don't even need to run combat the way I do, my hope is that perhaps my words will inspire your future games.

Happy rolling!